Day 1 of "An Eye for an Eye" went well!!!!!!

HUGE sigh of relief. I am happy. Very.

Greatest thing of the day: working with Terry. He was, of course, amazing. I am so lucky to be married to such a subtle, ingenious, generous actor (and human!). Thanks be to God.

Other greatest thing: Tamia, Neill, Bill, Ben, and ALL the crew (bless Jeremy, Paul, and, briefly, Hugh) are completely wonderful. I cannot be more thankful for our amazing first day. What a delight shooting with a team of professional, focused, dedicated folks. And with such a script! The story is everything . . . Dave. What a writer.

Today we shot Terry, Pam, and Eleanor, and Tamia and Neill made them look amazing. And they themselves are so seamlessly wonderful at their craft that I had very little to do. Casting really is most of it, and of course it’s the same with crew. Ahhh, trained actors, and crew who are so excellent that the director mostly sits back and marvels . . . wow.

We got our bedroom cleaned up. Barely. Terry carried piles of medieval costumes, utensils, boots, weapons, and other (very) miscellaneous materiél from our bedroom to my laden office for five hours last night, finishing at nearly midnight. I finished ‘sorting’ it off of the dining table at 3:30 a.m., then woke at 5:30, of course waking Terry - I set my alarm for 6:30 but forgot the time change! Woke again at 6:30.

Ben the bus rider is staying with us so he doesn’t have to take the bus from Tacoma. So the cats were disgruntled to be locked out of all bedrooms.

But not as disgruntled as they were when jailed in (sadly non-pregnant) Titania’s birthing cage in the laundry room for much of the day . . . broke my heart. But we had the front door totally open, of course, so they would have escaped.

We shot here in our house, which was amazing. Had twelve people traipsing in and out of the rain carrying all the equipment, and crowding into the narrow hallway, and at one point Neill was lying over the bed changing out a stinger (he stayed there for the shot too, which was great). He also pushed dolly all day. Which is not his usual job description. And Tamia worked with three broken ribs and a probably-broken wrist from an accident three days ago, bless her. I love these people very much.

We made our day, and then some, thanks to Tamia’s incredible storyboards and shot list. She was right to insist on two extra weeks for the pre-production.

As it is, with no budget, everybody is still doing too may jobs, very much me included. If I weren’t dressing the set, and trying to keep everybody fed all day, and stressing about building the props, etc . . . I might be less . . . underslept.

But it is all a learning curve. I really respect the people who really do the things I have been faking all week . . . wow.

Today was an easy day, as it was all inside.

Tomorrow we may be out in the rain some.

And more and more of each day will be exteriors.

Wish I had more rain cover . . . worried about a wet camera and an unhappy crew . . .

But life is good. Looking forward to a real sleep tonight.